§ Mr. Cockeramasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will cease to maintain the Exchequer Office as a sub department of the Treasury in Edinburgh.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThe Exchequer Office now carries out few functions on behalf of the Treasury, and the Prime Minister has agreed that from 1 April 1981 some of these will be undertaken by my right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Advocate through the Crown Office in Edinburgh, to which the relevant staff will be transferred. An order214W will be laid before Parliament to achieve this. Treasury functions in relation to lost and abandoned property in Scotland will, however, continue to be performed on behalf of the Treasury by the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, but it is proposed to appoint the Crown Agent to be the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer.
The majority of the present staff of the Exchequer Office work on company registration and related functions for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade is responsible. From 1 April the staff concerned with this work will become part of the Department of Trade. The present head of the office will continue as Registrar of Companies and Business Names in Scotland. The Exchequer Office will then cease to exist.